1879’s Pride in cooking up a new contract

A North East catering and events company is continuing its partnership with one of the country’s leading LGBT events.
1879 Events Management, part of the Sunderland-based SOL brand, has just extended its contract to provide catering services for Newcastle Pride for the next five years.

The popular festival, one of the largest free events of its kind in the UK, attracted a record 71,000 visitors in 2015, with even more expected to return in July 2016 for three days of live music and entertainment at Newcastle’s Town Moor.
1879 Events Management will be supplying all bars and equipment for this year’s event, as well as 200 staff members ranging from bartenders to security, and is expected to continue doing so until at least 2020.
Mark Nichols, Chair of Northern Pride which organises the Newcastle Pride festival, said: “We have worked with 1879 Events Management ever since the company launched in 2012 and have always been more than satisfied with the services it was able to provide.
“This year, with more visitors than ever expected to attend, we knew catering for Newcastle Pride would be in a safe pair of hands if we were able to extend our existing contract and we now look forward to working with 1879 for at least the next five years.”
Newcastle Pride 2013 was one of the first major contracts to be secured by 1979 Events Management, with subsequent successes including the Sound Waves festival in South Tyneside, the North East Business Teesside Awards at Teesside University and the Sunderland Retail Awards in the city’s Bridges Shopping Centre.
Earlier this year 1879 Events Management was taken under the new SOL brand, which now represents its external catering services, as well as its management of corporate events and functions at the Stadium of Light and National Glass Centre, Sunderland.
Gary Hutchinson, commercial director for 1879 Events Management, said: “2016 has already been an exciting year for 1879 Events Management, especially following the announcement of a headline performance by Beyoncé at the Stadium of Light, alongside the England football team’s important clash against Australia ahead of the Euros in France.
“This, coupled with our ongoing activities at National Glass Centre and various venues across the North East means we have a very exciting few months ahead of us and I’m thrilled that Newcastle Pride will be part of that for the fourth successive year.”